Fruit pitting device



Jan. 12, 1943 G. w. AsHLocK, JR 2,308,039

FRUIT PITTING DEVICE Original Filed lay 28. 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 11 ATTORNEY Jan. 12, 1943.

G. W. ASHLOCK, JR

FRUITPITTING DEVICE Original Filed May 28, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lmnllmuHfloWv Patented Jan. 12 1943 UNITED STATES -PATENT OFFICE zoaoas tii c...

Original application May 2.8, 1941, Serial No. 395,870. Divided and this application January 9, 1942, Serial No. 426,1195

3 Claims. (Cl. 146-19) This is a division of application Serial No. 395,670 filed May 28, 1941, wherein I have disclosed a machine useful for the orientation of generally spherical articles having at least one face thereon capable of stably supporting the article on a horizontal surface as well as to subsequent processing of the articles. As such an article, and solely by way of example, I particularly mention cherries; the machine of the present invention is particularly adapted to the orientation of cherries and other fruit having a stem indentation and to the subsequent stoning or other processing.

It is in general the broad object of the present invention to provide means for pitting cherries oriented on the aforementioned machine. While in various of my previous patents I have dealt with machines generally directed to this end, the machine of the present invention is particularly characterized in its simplicity, rapidity of operation, ease of maintenance, and particularly in its eiiiciency and it is a further object of the invention to provide such a machine.

Another objectl of the present invention is to vprovide a machine enabling cherries to be successfully oriented and pitted even though the cherries are irregular in shape and somewhat irregular as to size. Previous cherry orienting and pitting devices have been successful if the cherries were uniform both as to size and shape.

One cannot control the shape of a cherry and since the sizing operations usually practiced depend upon the shape of the cherry, various sizel cherries will come through in the same grade as a part hereof,

Figure l is aside elevation partly in section illustrating a machine embodying the present preferred form oi' a machine embodying this invention.

Figures 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are respectively section lines taken along the designated section lines 2-2, 3--3 and 4-4 in Figure 1; 5-5 in Figure 3; 5-6 in Figure 4.

Figure 'I is a section through a modified form of pitting chuck support.

The frame The machine of the present invention includes a suitable frame structure made up of suitable structural elements including side plates I2 jointed together by suitable cross bracing (not shown) and supported as by legs I4 from a supporting surface such as the floor I3. The side plates I2 f are spaced apart a suitable distance, the plates being generally rectangular in shape except as appears in the right hand portion of Figure 1 whereat the plates depend to almost the floor level.

The feed conveyor sprocket sets being respectively secured on shafts 3|, 32, 33 and 34, suitably journaled in the side plates I2 of the machine. Shafts 3I and 34 are normally positioned at about the same level so that the run of the conveyor between them is normally horizontal providing an orientation section generally indicated at 36 and a subsequent pitting or other processing section 3l.

Shaft 32 is usually positioned somewhat rearwardlyand below shaft 3| so that the conveyor returns downwardly and rearwardly toward shaft 33, the chains passing about the sprockets on shaft 33 to move upwardlytoward the sprockets on shaft 34 through a feed hopper generally lndicated at 4I and presently further described.

The conveyor members Il making up the conveyor I6 preferably include apertured metal plates 56 covered with rubber 51 suitably bonded thereto and apertured as at 58, the aperture size being slightly larger than the cherries or other articles to be handled. The rubber facing is preferably lflared as at 59 adjacent the upper side of each aperture to facilitate placing of articles in the aperture. lIn accordance with this invention, suitable article'supporting means such as wires 6I are positioned across each aperture to support an article therein during its transportation from one processing region to another., The wires thus act solely as support means for the cherries or other articles and do not actively cooperate with the article undergoing orientation as will presently appear.

The drive and pitting head Secured on the side plates is a suitable superstructure 42 carrying an electric motor 43 and a variable speed reducer 44 connected by a chain 46 passed about its drive sprocket 41 to a sprocket 48 on a, shaft 49 journaled in the super-structure. The super-structure generally includes suitable pitting or stoning mechanisms such as that disclosed in my Patents 2,157,518 and 2,219,832. Shaft 49 also carries a sprocket 5| thereon connected by a chain 52 to a sprocket indicated at 53 on shaft 3| so that the stoning mechanism and the conveyor I6 are driven in timed relationship, the speed and relation between the two being adjusted by a suitable means such as that disclosed in Figure 1 in my Patent 2,157,518.

The feed hopper To provide for loading of the conveyor structure |6 I include hopper 4| provided by side plates 40, an end plate 45 and suitable end and side banles 50 therein after the .manner disclosed in my Patent 2,190,970. The conveyor I6 moving upwardly in the direction of the arrow through the hopper 4|, each aperture in the conveyor retains a single article which it carries along out of the feed hopper to the presently discussed orientation section 36.

The orientation operation Because the orientation of articles is required prior to pitting, I will now describe the preferred orientation means. 'I'his provides the subject matter claimed in my aforementioned application.

To provide for orientation of the articles I rotate the cherries supported in the apertures 58. 'Ihis rotation is preferably effected in a continuous manner during passage of the articles through the orientation section 36. Accordingly, to this end, I conveniently mount shafts 62l and 63| between the side plates I2 in suitable journals 66. On shaft 62 I secure a pair of spaced sprockets 61 while a pair of spaced sprockets 68 are secured on shaft 63, these sprockets serving to support opposite spaced chains 69 providing an orientation conveyor 60. Mounted between the chains and rotatably supported therein are a plurality of shafts 1| carrying suitable wheels 12, each wheel being secured to the shaft and extending` upwardly into an aperture 58. Each shaft 1I is moved relative to the aperture 58 to rotate an article in the aperture engaged with the wheel. This is accomplished usually during movement of the conveyor 60 by a gear 14 at each end of the shaft engaging a fixed rack 16 secured by bolts 11 and spacers 18 to. guide rails 19 carried by brackets 80 secured by studs 8| to the side plates I2 of the machine. Instead of rotating the shafts 1| they can be oscillated by providing spaced racks above and below gear 14 and alternately engaged by the gear; or the rack 16 can be replaced by a chain moved in the same direction or opposite to conveyor 60 and at diierent rates.

Rotation of the wheels alone is sulcient to result in orientation' of the articles such as cherries. Depending upon the weight of the articles and the size the speed of the Wheels can be varied. However, withusual size cherries I have successfully used a wheel having a beveled edge, the wheel being about 1/8" thick and rotating the wheel at about 220 R. P. M., the wheel extending into the aperture for about 1A".

vibration' of me articles In accordance with this invention I preferably vibrate the articles undergoing orientation at the same time they are subjected to rotation. Conveniently this is achieved by vibrating rails 82 supporting conveyor I6 in the orientation region 36 although it can also be accomplished by vibrating conveyor 60. To this end I pivotally support rails 82 on opposite sides of the machine with a pivotal support 83 at the feed end thereof while at the other end I join the rails together with a suitable shaft 84 and connect this shaft by a link 86 to a suitable vibrating mechanism indicated generally at 8 1 and mounted upon a bracket 88 on one of the side plates. The rate of vibration can vary over fairly wide limits and I have successfully used frequencies varying between 1,200 and 12,000 cycles per minute. Depending upon the speed of movement of the conveyor I6 and the rate of rotation of the wheels, the speed of vibration can be varied and the three can be varied together to the end that the efficiency of orientation Ifor a selected group of articles is a maximum. `To this end, therefore, the vibrating mechanism 81 is preferably made adjustable because it is subject to the greatest variation relative to the other variables.

With the wheels 12 rotating counterclockwise in Figure 5 a cherry is normally jammed against the leading edge of the aperture 58, as appears in Figure 5, and even though the wheel '12 continues to rotate, the cherry will remain in this position.

Fluid flooding Orientation of the articles is normally facilitated if they are maintained wet during the orientation operation and to this end I preferably position over each row of articles undergoing orientation suitable liquid supply pipes indicated at 9| and provided with a plurality of jets 82 to eject a suitable fluid, such as water, a processing solution or any suitable liquid lubricating mechanism onto the articles, particularly cherries undergoing orientation. This is claimed in my application Serial No. 417,713 illed November 3, 1941.

The pitting mechanism In the machine disclosed herein it is contemplated that the articles are cherries and that they Will be stoned. Accordingly, I provide the pitting mechanism previously mentioned as well as other suitable means to support the cherries during this operation. To this end I accordingly mount shafts |0| and |02 in the side plates by means of suitable bearings indicated at |05. To each of the shafts are keyed suitable sprocket sets |03 and |04 and about the sprockets are trained chains |06 to provide a pitting chuck conveyor |00. A sprocket |01 on shaft |0| is connected by a chain |08 to a sprocket |08 on shaft 3| whereby the conveyor |00 is driven. Shaft |02 also includes a sprocket ||I connected by a chain ||2 to a sprocket ||4 on a shaft 62 whereby conveyor is driven, both conveyors being driven in time with the main conveyor I6.

Each conveyor chain |06 includes a plurality of spaced angle pieces ||1 connected by studs ||8 to suitable apertured metal base plates ||9 each having bonded thereto the rubber faces indicated at |2I, the rubber being bonded'to the metal base plate at least along one face thereof and recessed at |22 to receive the article support members 6 The plurality of fruit stone passages |23 are provided to receive and pass the stones ejected from the fruit. To provide proper resilience, each section of the rubber facing is apertured or relieved as at |24 to provide a resilient support for that region of the rubber facing adjacent to the stone passage |23.

In place of bonding, the rubber facing directly to the metal, the metal can be relieved and the rubber pitting support or chuck can be provided thereon as an insert. This is shown in Figure 7 wherein the base plate |26 is shown as relieved as at |21. A rubber insert |28 is provided detachably retained by a ring |29 fitting in a complementary groove in the base plate. Any suitable cooperative form of attachment between the base plate and the removable rubber facing can, of course, be employed.

Operation While it is believed to be clear from the foregoing that the operation of the device is fully set forth, a brief rsum may assist in this understanding. 'lhe main conveyor |6 is driven through the motor I3 and the speed reducer M, the orientation conveyor 60 carrying the rotating wheels and the conveyor carrying the pitting support members each being driven in a timed relationship and at the same rate as the main conveyor properly to position their cooperating elements. Withv suitable articles to be processed such as cherries placed in the hopper 4|, the movement of conveyor I6 through the hopper results in each apertured receptacle in the main conveyor I6 being filled with an` article and carried on to the orientation section Il. In this region the main conveyor is rapidly vibrated and, at the same time, each article on the conveyor is lifted from its support means il by the rotating wheel, the wheel and the vibrating means cooperating, in the preferred machine, to orient the cherry in that position shown in Figure with the stem indent end of the cherry abutting the wheel.- To attain this, the wheel rotates the article about a horizontal axis until the article has been correctly oriented. Once oriented the article remains in this position even though the wheel continues to rotate and the article is vibrated. Finally conveyor I6 moves beyond that point whereat lt cooperates with conveyor 60 and the wheels are removed from their supporting engagement with the articles. When this occurs, the articles move down gradually onto the members 6| as the conveyor 60 moves around the, sprocket and the wheels are gradually moved out of engagement with the articles. This occurs without the articles becoming removed from their oriented position. As the conveyor I6 moves on toward the cherry stoning station the article support is taken over bythe pitting chunks on the pitting chunk conveyor l".

In this position the articles are moved on toward the pitting station for pitting, the pits being ejected through the passages- |23 into the pit receptacle trough |3| while the articles pass on and fall by gravity into the trough |32 as the conveyor passed downwardly about the sprockets on shaft 32.

While I have used the term rubber herein and in some of the claims to describe the flexible support for the fruit, an equivalent rubber substitute can be employed instead.

I claim:

1. A machine for positioning a generally spherical indented fruit having at least one face thereon capable of supporting the fruit stably on a horizontal surface, said machine comprising a first conveyor movable in one direction ata substantially constant rate over a path and including a series of apertures conning a fruit therein against unrestrained horizontal movement and carrying fruit support means to support a fruit in each aperture, and a second conveyor movable for a portion of its travel in said one direction 4at said rate over substantially the same path as said rst conveyor, said second conveyor including resilient support members positionable beneath each corresponding aperture in a fruit supporting relation to said aperture independently of said fruit support means, each resilient member being apertured to pass a fruit stone.

2. A machine for positioning a generally spherical indented fruit having at least one face thereon capable of supporting the fruit stably on a horizontal surface, said machine comprising a first conveyor movable over a path `and including a series of apertures confining a fruit therein against unrestrained horizontal' movement and carrying fruit support means to support a fruit in each aperture, and a second conveyor movable for a portion of its travel with said nrst conveyor over said path and including resilient support members positionable beneath each corresponding aperture in a fruit supporting relation to said aperture independently of said fruit support means, each resilient member being apertured to pass a fruit stone.

3. A machine for positioning a generally spherical fruit having at least oneface thereon capable of supporting the fruit stably on a horizontal surface, said machine comprising a first l conveyor movable over a path and including a series of apertures confining ,a fruit therein against unrestrained horizontal movement, a second conveyor movable for a portion of its travel over said path and with said first conveyor, said second conveyor including rubber support members positionable beneath each corresponding aperture -in a fruit supporting relation to said aperture, each rubber member being apertured to pass a fruit stone.

GEORGE W. ASHLOCK, JR. 

